On the Outskirts of Manhattan

Team Black had not been on the roof of the Base for more than five minutes when Ava stormed onto what Dawson could only constitute as the battlefield. She caught everyone's attention, he was sure, since his own men turned at the sight of her. Her fiery personality and dominance was immediately put to test as wolf after wolf jumped on her human form. Dawson let out a growl of warning to his team. They knew they had to protect her. They immediately resumed shooting, specifically the wolves and humans converging around the woman who had so easily caught their attention. Although Ava was a well known wolf who regularly visited the Council Chambers, not many wolves had actually seen the woman. Dawson was fairly sure that none of his men had ever seen her before. They had not been approved to show up to her training sessions and she didn't go around meeting all of the wolves that lived in or around the Council's Chambers.

On the ground, Ava had no bodyguard; no one accompanied her as she walked into the battle, and it only took twenty seconds before wolves were all around her, attacking her flesh and being shot to the ground either from the sharp shooters above Ava's head, or from her own easy manoeuvres.

She was fast, Dawson had to give her credit. She stayed in her human form, which he found interesting. She had always changed into her wolf form when under immediate threat. But, Dawson noted, maybe she didn't feel threatened. She was throwing limp wolves off her right, left and centre. She didn't seem to have much of a scratch on her except for rips in her shirt and jeans and the wolves attacking her didn't seem to be too skilled in their training. Ava, on the other hand, had been heavily trained since she had joined the Grey Wolf Mountain pack under Greyson's guidance.

Dawson was just calming down over the fact that his men in Team Black hadn't been covering Ava, and over the fact that she was in the battlefield in the first place, when his senses picked up motion behind him. Almost too late, he turned and was kicked back into a low wall of the roof he was on. Several men turned to defend him, but his growl made them turn back to protecting Ava as he dealt with the immediate threat on his hands—Carly. The blond receptionist didn't seem too concerned with him. She had several open weapons on her body and probably several more concealed ones. She held a large, sharp dagger in one hand, and a compact handgun in her other. Her intentions were obvious—take down Dawson which ever way possible. The more painful the better, but if she had to, she'd use the gun.

“What a pleasure finding you here. Not that it was hard to figure out. You and Riley never kept quiet around a lowly desk clerk,” she smirked. “Always from the highest vantage point,” she said with a horrible rendition of Riley's husky voice. “Sharp shooters from every corner. Protect those who need to be protected, blah, blah, blah,” Carly grinned.

“You think you have everything figured out,” Dawson stated, nodding when the woman grinned.

“Of course I do. I had high clearance on any and all personnel files. I knew the passcode to Riley's room, I knew the passcode to everyone's room.” She chuckled. “The things you didn't say in front of me, I could find out on my own.”

“And so, after reading my own personnel file, you feel as if you can adequately take me on with a knife and a gun?” Dawson asked her. “With ten of our best agents at my back?”

“Yes,” Carly said. “it is precisely because I've read your personnel file that I know they are under strict orders from you—their leader—to protect Ava at all costs. Not you. Ava.”

Dawson nodded, leaning back against the half-wall of the building's roof. “And what was your plan concerning my own personal abilities?” Dawson asked. “I am the top ranked guard, my skills far exceed every one of the other guards. You must know that I have skills even members of the Council don't have the knowledge of. You must know, then, that I am a member of the Council?”

Carly gasped, taking a step back. “There are only five Council Members,” she protested.

“Six,” Dawson corrected. “Meet the sixth, top secret, only on a need-to-know basis, member of the Council. My name's Dawson Kennedy. Nice to meet you.”

Carly didn't have the time to get over her initial shock as Dawson leaped at her, transforming mid-air as if he were born to do it, and ripped her throat right out of her neck.

***

Felix had moved into the Gymnasium with Caroline, Jane, the staff members of the Council's Chambers and Defensive Teams Nine through Twelve. He held in his hands several electronic devices which allowed him to control and monitor the equipment in the surveillance room without actually being there.

He was pleased with Ava's entrance. If there was one thing that he loved about Ava it was that she always made an entrance. She didn't necessarily mean to do it and she didn't necessarily have a flare for dramatics, but the entire idea of being a werewolf, and an exceptionally powerful werewolf at that, made her a bit edgy. It was something that had been forced on her, and that very idea didn't sit well with her, resulting in her dramatic entrances. She wasn't too bad with her exists either.

Switching views, he watched as Carly attacked Dawson on the roof and as Team Black took down wolf and human alike that got too close to Ava. He watched as Phoenix, the boy who informed them of the attack at the Base, ripped wolves to shreds before shifting at a dangerously slow pace into a brilliant red wolf, then took off to attack others. Making a mental note to promote the boy and get him training in phasing, Felix switched views to get a look at the Council Chamber's perimeter.

Everything looked clear. Doors closed and windows shut. The building looked deserted upon first entering. Moving the focus to check inside the building, Felix let a curse fall from his lips. There were a whole slew of men and women who had infiltrated their confines. They held large guns, all of which looked intimidating, however, the men and women holding the guns looked ridiculous in matching outfits.

Felix tapped his ear, connecting to the radio system that all soldiers had. “Teams Nine through Twelve on guard. Perimeter had been breached.” He disconnected as the men moved silently and efficiently to guard the doors, several of them leaving the confines of the Gymnasium. They all looked calm so as not to provoke panic within the staff members and pedestrians surrounding them. “Caroline,” he turned to the doctor, “get Nolan and Jane to the sound room. Take that staircase. Lock the door and board it up. Ava will kill us all if Nolan even gets a scratch. Mike,” he turned to one of the guards closest to them. “Your obligation is to Nolan and Nolan alone. Go with the women.”

Nodding, the guard—Mike—ushered the two women with a sleeping Nolan up the stairs at a rapid pace, checking for intruders at every corner. Felix rolled his eyes at the man's antics, although he knew that was just the intensive training kicking in. He'd have to look into getting that man a raise.

As he tapped away at his tablet, several shots rang outside the doors. The staff started to get into a panic and Felix watched as man and woman alike crumpled to the ground in a simulation of what used to be their body.

He had time to check on Ava—still in her human form, still strong and fighting off wolves and man alike as if they were simply a pesky bug—before the doors in front of him opened up and a sandy wolf jumped right at him. Mildly inconvenienced, Felix let his tablet skid across the ground then sent a smirk the sandy wolf's way.

Effortlessly, Felix shifted into his own wolf. At first glance, he would look silly—dark brown fur with lighter brown paws, chest and a single flopping, golden ear, but there was just something about his wolf that made him look feral and dangerous. The happy-go-lucky Councilman turned into a ferocious beast the second his wolf took over his body. It was why he didn't change readily for the public. It was why he was usually confined to the electronics room. It was why he was left alone to look after the Council Chambers. Upon changing into his wolf, Felix became unforgiving. Felix became a masochist. Felix yearned for blood, and Felix got what he wanted.

***

The entire area was a complete mess. Men, women, even children were fighting in the midsts of everyone. Blood was spilling across the ground, leaking in to feed the dying grass. People were flying all around; some attacking, some being attacked, others walked around with dazed expressions and lost hope, almost sauntering up to their enemy; hoping to have a quick and easy death.

Ava was being assaulted with wolf after wolf, human after human. She did what she was taught—the quickest, most humane kills. Necks were being broken by her with a flick of the wrist; her partially transformed body allowed her to slash at any man, woman or wolf's throat as they attacked her. She couldn't stand the children that tried to attack her, simply throwing them off of her and hoping they would have the good sense to run; to leave before it ended badly for them. She was giving them a second chance, sometimes a third and forth. She hoped they'd take them before someone else took that chance away from them.

She was looking for just one person. He was in the middle of hundreds upon hundreds of men who protected him. She wondered if he was doing anything at all besides standing in the midsts of battle and revelling at the fact that he had brought it on.

Ava didn't even know his name or what he looked like. She didn't know if he was old or young, careless in his appearance or set to appear on the cover of the next GQ Magazine. She knew nothing about him except that he had arranged for the kidnapping of her son, and that his primary objective was gaining the right to hunt and eat humans.

There were so many people and wolves jumping at her and falling to the ground, she knew that someone must be helping her out. She tried to look fleetingly around, as if that would give her an answer to her saviour without getting too distracted, but all she saw were the wounded and dead on the ground. Those alive were jumping at her or attacking someone they had never seen before. She wondered if some people were fighting their people who were on their own side by accident.

She needed to put an end to it. Immediately.

She grabbed one of the more important men who stood at the perimeter of the large mob of enemy wolves before her. “Where is your leader?” she growled out.

The man smirked. “In there, obviously.” He pointed to the large, protective mob behind him. They all looked ferocious, ready to kill anyone who tried to get through to their leader. But that man didn't try to kill her. He just kept the smirk on his face, tapping his hand lightly against the shaft of his shotgun.

Ava watched, stunned as a wolf jumped at her, and the man raised his gun, shooting one of his own men.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Our boss told us not to harm you.”

“Your boss...” Ava began. “The one that started this war?”

The man nodded.

“The one that wants to eat humans?”

The man nodded again.

“The one that kidnapped my son?”

The man's smile faltered. He didn't know about that one.

“The one I'm here to disarm?”

“Yes,” the man said. “That very one.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Why don't you ask him yourself?” he asked her, tapping his gun again and motioning behind him. As he motioned, the people in the protective circle slowly started to move out of the way for her, as if they were granting her entrance.

Ava knew it could be a trap. They could converge around her and kill her in an instant.

She glanced up at the tall building beside her, startling herself when she saw several men aiming guns in her direction, a fleeting presence of Dawson as he danced around with someone on the roof. He looked like he was in trouble and Ava's protective instincts kicked in. Holding herself back, Ava knew that if she could get this over with then Dawson would be safe.

“I would love to. But I'm not going in your midsts. Bring him out to me.”

The man chuckled. “That would breach our safety net.”

“Disperse.” It was more of a spoken command than a yelled one, but Ava heard the power and watched the effect of the voice ripple through the crowd in front of her.

The people in front of her started to disintegrate; blending in with the crowd so much until they disappeared. Then the group dwindled down to one lone man in an impeccable Armani suit with his back facing her.

Short brown hair was styled perfectly atop his head and he appeared to be unarmed. However, when he turned around, Ava's intense senses zoomed in on the gun tucked neatly in his waistband, the two knives that were up his sleeve and the grenade in his hand.

Finally glancing up to see the man who had started the entire war, she felt herself let out a gasp. The perfect blue eyes from her high school days; the dazzling smile of a twenty-year-old boy; the quirky way his lip raised in a half smirk; the scar above his left eyebrow and his left ear that protruded slightly more than the right. These were all familiar to her. She knew this boy.

“Ryder?” she asked softly. All of her high school memories came flooding back to her. Her and Ryder holding hands their senior year, the casual flirting between the two, the kiss they shared on graduation day, the time she told him never to come to her house again, all the calls from him she'd ignored and then nothing. He had given her up. At least she thought he had. But now, he stood before her, a soft smile on his face as he saw her.

“Ava,” his voice caressed her name as it fell from his lips. “I've been waiting for you.”